


What Are You Thankful For?

by DreamingReality



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: M/M, Thanksgiving, human!perry, some good ol angst from heinz's past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 07:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8657920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingReality/pseuds/DreamingReality
Summary: Past events cause Heinz to worry after inviting Perry over for Thanksgiving dinner. Fluff happens.





	1. Nerves

**Author's Note:**

> I know its not Thanksgiving but I'm close

His machine blew up, as per usual. Heinz popped up out of the rubble to see Perry the Platypus starting towards his jet pack, seemingly waiting for the beginning of Heinz's usual curse at him. 

"Perry the Platypus, uh, hold on a second," he said instead. Perry turned to look at Heinz curiously. "I, uh, well y'know, tomorrow's _Thanksgiving_ and all, and Vanessa will be at Charlene's and you'll probably be, well, wherever it is you go when you're not here, so I was _thinking_ ," Heinz rubbed his neck and looked down, "maybe you could... join me, Norm, and Vanessa for Thanksgiving dinner the day after Thanksgiving? Y'know, since it'd work out and who doesn't love the idea of a second Thanksgiving?"

He braced himself for Perry to say no, despite the many times they'd hung out outside of work before. Looking up, he saw Perry smiling slightly and giving him a thumbs up. 

"Really?' he asked excitedly.  Perry nodded and tapped his watch to ask what time to show up. "Well, I'm planning to serve dinner at 3, so maybe a bit before then?" He shrugged. 

Giving him another thumbs up, Perry strapped on his jet pack and flew off, leaving the apartment and blowing dust all over Heinz and everything else.  

"Curse you, Perry the Platypus!" he screamed as he tried to wipe the dust off. He walked to the bathroom, instructing Norm to clean up on the way. 

"Yes, sir!" Norm said, cheerfully, grabbing a broom and dustpan. 

Heinz groaned as he looked in the mirror and saw how dirty he was. It was going to take forever to clean that off. As he undressed, he thought about what to make for Thanksgiving dinner. He would have to make sure Perry the Platypus could eat everything he ma- 

He froze. Perry was coming over for Thanksgiving. To his house. With his family. With _him._ Fuck. 

* * *

Heinz spent the actual day of Thanksgiving getting ready for the next day. He had an agreement with O.W.C.A that he wouldn't have any evil schemes on major holidays.  

Heinz went out to get some final ingredients and decorations. Once he was home, he got to work. He began cleaning, making sure the house was spotless. He set up the dining table, putting a white tablecloth on it and a clear vase filled with orange and yellow flowers surrounded by tiny pumpkins around it in the center. For a moment, he considered candles, but he really did _not_  want to ruin dinner by having to put out a fire, so he decided against it. After checking the refrigerator and cabinets three times each to make sure he had everything he needed, he left the kitchen and got ready for bed. He didn't need to make anything beforehand, since he had an –inator to help with cooking. Not that the quality needed help. He just wanted to make things faster. The machine was cleared with O.W.C.A, that way Perry wouldn't show up in suspicious agent mode demanding to know what he was doing. 

After about forty minutes of contemplating and worrying about what could go wrong, Heinz finally fell asleep.


	2. Nathan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay look this chapter is optional, really, so if you don't want some Heinz's Past ft OC then skip to the end notes for some summary. Also, since it's not really a 100% needed chapter, I didn't put this in the tags, but tw for some?? Emotional abuse. Here we go

It was around five months since they had first started dating. Nathan had told Heinz about his family not accepting him for being gay and ruining their image, so Heinz went ahead and invited Nathan and some of his friends over to his place for Thanksgiving dinner. He wasn't too nervous. Everything in his apartment seemed to be set up perfectly, and he was a good cook. What could go wrong? 

The doorbell rang as he was admiring his place, filled with candles and fall decorations. He jumped up excitedly and rushed towards the door, stopping when he got there. Taking a deep breath and remembering what Nathan had told him about being cool, Heinz regained his composure and opened up the door. Striking brown eyes filled with fondness found his, before sliding past him and scanning the room inside to see how it looked. He nodded his approval, his messy black hair flopping along with his head. 

"Even on Thanksgiving you couldn’t manage to control that hair?" Heinz teased. 

Nathan chuckled. "You know as well as I do that's impossible, Heinz. My friends are almost up. I told them to let me go up first. I wanted to see if anything in the room would need fixing before they got here, but it seems everything's fine," he explained. 

"Gotcha. Hey while we're waitiiing," Heinz drawled, grabbing Nathan's hand to pull him into the room. Heinz shut the door with his foot, pressing Nathan up against it softly and leaning in to kiss him.  

Nathan grinned before reciprocating the kiss. "Seems I have a lot to be thankful for this year," he smirked at Heinz as they heard a knock on the door. "Friends are here. Remember what I said."  

Heinz nodded, remembering how Nathan said to act, stepping away from the door. Nathan opened it and invited his friends in. They entered, a short boy who looked as if he'd just came from a golf match, a girl with big hair and an air of intelligence surrounding her, and a large guy who seemed to command respect just by existing. _Now_ Heinz was a bit nervous. 

"Heinz, this is Oliver, Danielle, and T.J. Guys, this is my boyfriend, Heinz." Nathan said gesturing back and forth, looking slightly apprehensive.  

"Yea we can tell, what with the sappiness we heard from outside the door," Danielle joked.  

Nathan blushed at that as they all greeted Heinz and thanked him for inviting them over. He suggested they go eat. 

"Oh, sure!" Heinz exclaimed. "Everything's set up and stuff. The dining room is just over there," he pointed the way.  

Nathan's friends walked away, Heinz putting a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder to stop him.  

"You okay?" he asked. 

"Yes, I'm fine. Just-" he sighed, "please don’t ruin this, Heinz." 

He was hurt by the implication that he would, but he brushed it off. "I won't. I promise," he assured a skeptical Nathan. "Come on, food's waiting." 

* * *

The dinner went well, with Heinz stopping every time before he started ranting about anything, just like Nathan said to do the day before. Everything seemed to be leading up to an okay evening, when Heinz screwed everything up. He got up to get desert, but tripped over the tablecloth and sent food flying everywhere, mostly on him. The candles caught the tablecloth on fire, causing Heinz to jump up and grab the fire extinguisher to put it out. Once everything was covered in foam and food, he stood there in shock. 

Looking around, he saw the also shocked faces of Nathan's friends, and then Nathan. His expression changed from scared, to angry, to a careful mask of calmness before turning to his friends. 

"Guys, I think we should leave. Wait for me out in the car," he said through gritted teeth. 

The three left, and Heinz said quickly, "Nathan I am _so_ sorry. I didn’t mean to-" he stopped as the other man held up his hand. 

"I don't care _what_  you didn't mean to do. Look what happened! You humiliated me in front of my friends and you ruined Thanksgiving!" Nathan screamed at him.  

"But I-" 

"Save it. I'm going home. Don’t bother calling me again. You're absolutely hopeless, Heinz. Goodbye." Nathan turned and stormed off, slamming the door behind him, making Heinz jump. Heinz was left sobbing on the floor covered in what had been Thanksgiving dinner. 

* * *

 

Heinz woke with a start right before his alarm went off, crying. After a few minutes he reminded himself that this was all in the past, and he got up to get ready. Today was _not_  going to be ruined. He hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary:  
> Okay so Heinz is having a dream about a Thanksgiving from his past, when he was in his 20's. He'd invited his boyfriend, Nathan, and some of his friends to dinner. Things were going well until he tripped over the tablecloth, making a mess and setting things on fire. Nathan's friends left and Nathan yelled at and broke up with Heinz, who was left crying on the floor covered in food. He woke up crying and hoping that this Thanksgiving dinner would turn out alright.


	3. Thankful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fluff™

Heinz spent the first part of the day going back and forth between pacing and cooking. The Thanksgiving Day-inator was good, but not as efficient due to O.W.C.A's "safety regulations" or whatever. 

"Why do they even _have_  "safety regulations" anyways?" he asked Norm as he paced for the fifth time. "I mean, the –inator cooking nine things at once isn't _dangerous_. My aunt did twice that one Christmas! Granted, she did lose a finger..." 

"Sir, how long have you been pacing?" Norm asked. 

"Oh, right, my eggs!" Heinz rushed to the kitchen. 

"Are you nervous about Perry coming over, sir?" 

"Wha-no! He comes here all the time, why would I be nervous?" 

"You know, Perry the Platypus is not like Nathan." 

"He-" Heinz froze. "What? How do you know about Nathan?" 

"You talk in your sleep, sir," the robot answered as Heinz slowly returned to his eggs. 

"Whatever. I know he's not. That was a long time ago and I don’t even care anymore. Nope. Not at all. What are you doing just standing around? Go clean up again or something," Heinz said, aggravated.  

Norm walked off, his steps thudding away over to the broom. Heinz sighed and let his shoulders drop. He was okay. There were no candles around, and the tablecloth didn't even touch the floor. Besides, that was then and this is now. Perry _wasn't_  like Nathan. He and Perry weren't even dating, anyways! Not that he had never thought about it. Sat awake at night thinking of running his fingers through Perry's hair. Cuddling him while watching their favorite movies. Backing the agent against the wall and kissing him until he couldn't think straight. Exploring every inch of h- 

"Sir! Vanessa is here!" Norm shouted, interrupting Heinz's thoughts. He shook his head and walked over to greet his daughter.  

"Hello, sis! Happy Thanksgiving," he heard Norm exclaim as he walked in. 

"It's techinally not Thanksgiving anymore, bro. But hello to you too," she replied. "Hey, dad." 

"Hey sweetheart," he embraced her, "I made your favorite. Pumpkin pie!" 

She jokingly rolled her eyes. "Dad that's still not my favorite food." 

"But you love pumpkin pie!" 

"No dad, _you_ love pumpkin pie," she said, laughing as he pouted. "Why is everything so...neat? And why do you look so disheveled?" 

Heinz gasped as Vanessa set her stuff down. "I need to get ready!" 

 He ran off to his room, hearing Vanessa ask Norm what was up with him and the latter replying, "Mom's coming over and dad's nervous." 

"I'm not nervous!" he yelled back at them. "And Perry the Platypus is _not_  your mother, Norm!" he added after a second. 

Heinz heard a sigh and a knock at his bedroom door. He finished combing his hair and walked out to find Vanessa standing there with her arms crossed. 

"What?" 

She sighed again. "Mom told me about what happened that one Thanksgiving with Nathan," she said 

"She-" 

"Knew you'd do this eventually. Dad, you know Perry's not like that. Look, he cares about you. Whatever feelings you have for him that you like to deny, they're definitely reciprocated. He's seen you at your worst. Do you honestly think he'll bail if a simple dinner goes wrong?" she asked, voice soft but firm. 

It was his turn to sigh. "No. Thanks sweetheart. Come on, let's go finish up getting ready." 

The two walked to the kitchen just as someone knocked on the door. Heinz jumped. 

"Dad," Vanessa reassured him, "it's alright." 

He took a deep breath and nodded, following her to the door. She opened it to find the secret agent, who grinned and waved at her and Heinz. He made sure the scientist was looking before taking his fedora off, making Heinz smile.  

"Hey Perry. Happy late Thanksgiving. Is that doonkleberry pie?" she asked. 

He nodded, handing her the pie. He looked over at Heinz. 

"Um, come on in. Dinner's almost ready so, uh, I'll just go finish that up," he stammered before dashing off to the kitchen, leaving Vanessa to lead Perry to the dining room. 

* * *

 

"...but he just wants to impress you," Heinz heard his daughter say to Perry as he came in. He sat down in between the two and in front of Norm, pretending he didn't hear anything. Everyone filled their plates and dug in. Heinz loosened up throughout the course of the meal. Vanessa talked about schoolwork and the latest gossip, Perry chiming in occasionally, while Heinz talked about, well, everything he could manage to. In general, the dinner went smoothly and conversation was nice. Well, Heinz isn't sure Perry and Vanessa jokingly insinuating that it was a shock this –inator worked so well considering others never did while Heinz had to defend himself with no help from Norm  _nice_ , but everything else was. 

Everyone had desert, the doonkleberry pie Perry had brought being the most popular, especially with Heinz. Vanessa complimented her dad's cooking before announcing that she was going up to her room for the night, saying goodnight to everyone while grabbing her phone and leaving. Norm left the table too, so that it was just Perry and Heinz alone. 

"So, um, Perry the Platypus," Heinz said. Perry looked at him inquisitively. "T-thank you for, uh, coming over. And for the pie." 

Perry smiled and signed, _Of course. It was fun, and the food was delicious._  

 _"_ Do you wanna stay for a while longer and watch a movie?" Heinz blurted out, instantly regretting doing so. That was stupid. Why would Perry want to stay and watch a movie with him? 

To his surprise, however, Perry nodded. _Sure, I don’t have to be back at the usual time today._  

"I-really? That’s great! Uh, I mean, um, what movie do you wanna watch?' he asked awkwardly as he went into the living room to look through a stack of movies. "I have some things you like. I also have some Thanksgiving movies, but they're all kid's cartoons from when Vanessa was little." 

Perry snapped to get his attention. _Whatever you want is fine._  

"Oh. Alright." He pulled a random movie from the stacks and put it on, sitting down on the couch as Perry sat down beside him. Heinz had seen the movie a million times, so he didn't pay much attention to it. Instead, he spent the duration of the movie sneaking glances over at Perry and thinking.  

This man, a secret agent, with his beautiful, odd teal hair, who was smart, swift, handsome, and just...perfect, was sitting here with _Heinz._  Not judging him. Not trying to change him. Not doing anything out of pity. Just there enjoying a movie with Heinz because he _wanted_  to. Earlier, when Vanessa had said Perry reciprocated his feelings, he brushed of the thought, but maybe... 

"Perry the Platypus," Heinz broke the silence as the end credits rolled across the television screen. "Wh-" he stopped. This was a dumb idea. Perry looked over at him, prompting him to go on. He decided to spit it out quickly before he could lose his nerve. "What are you thankful for? Since, y'know, yesterday was Thanksgiving..." he trailed off. 

Perry looked apprehensive for a moment before answering with one simple word.  

 _You._  

Heinz froze, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest. Praying to everything he could think to pray to that he wasn't misreading this and about to screw it all up, Heinz leaned in and pressed a kiss to Perry's lips. 

The agent sat there in shock for a split second before pulling Heinz in and deepening the kiss, putting one arm around Heinz's waist and threading the other hand through his hair. 

 Heinz brought his hand up to Perry's cheek and pulled back just enough to look at him. "That's good, then, Perry the Platypus. Because my answer is _you_ ," he whispered before closing his eyes and kissing Perry again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are super cool and always welcome. ^.^


End file.
